


The Iron Factor In Wine

by jayisokayy



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Fluffy, M/M, Marriage Proposal, choking on wedding rings?, for like one sentence, it is purely fluff, little tiny bit of angst, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 19:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1790440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayisokayy/pseuds/jayisokayy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John was freaking out.<br/>Today, he decided three months ago with a very firm nod, was the day he was going to propose to his boyfriend of three-now four-years, Sherlock Holmes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Iron Factor In Wine

**Author's Note:**

> For my girlfriend, Sarah

John was freaking out.

Today, he decided three months ago with a very firm nod, was the day he was going to propose to his boyfriend of three-now four-years, Sherlock Holmes. He just didn’t know how. Every time he tried to surprise Sherlock in the past, the detective had been able to read him like an open book. And so he had to be sneaky and elaborate and very, very clever. The problem with this, though, was that it was very difficult to be cleverer than Sherlock. His piercing blue eyes could read your soul, almost literally, and so John had been dancing around Sherlock for the past couple of days.

In the end, John’s master plan was to just ask Sherlock straight out. Then, he decided, that was a dumb idea and crossed that off his list. Also, when did he get a sheet of paper? Whatever, John had bigger problems to deal with than the mysterious placement of paper on his desk. He looked over at Sherlock, who was doing experiments in the kitchen, (again. John knew how much Mrs. Hudson hated it and that Sherlock would have to deal with her shit, but he just looked so adorable experimenting.) Sherlock looked so at peace, without a worry, and John let out a little sigh.

Sherlock had forgotten about their anniversary.

It was actually kind of fitting that he did. John wouldn’t have expected Sherlock to remember, anyway. Still, John had hoped that maybe Sherlock would remember and tell John to relax and they could spend the day cuddling. Whatever, he had more important things on his mind. If Sherlock had forgotten, that gave him the perfect way to surprise Sherlock. Perfect. Now he just needed to work on his master plan at little bit more. And when I say a little bit, I mean a lot.

Meanwhile, Sherlock was also freaking out. But just a little more internally. He too had decided that he would propose to John on the day of their four year anniversary. In fact, he had planned a whole elaborate scheme many months ago, arranged it with the (dreadful) help of Mycroft, and just needed to now have the guts to go forward and actually execute the whole plan. His problem, though, was the fact that he wasn’t sure how John was going to react. What if John said no? Though he wasn’t always the best at expressing it, Sherlock really did love John and couldn’t handle it if John were to break up with him. But it was best not to dwell on the negative. He had decided a few years ago that the best was with his boyfriend was straight-forward, and so that’s how he would ask him to dinner.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he put his beaker down and slowly made his way over to the couch were John was sitting. John very suspiciously stuffed a sheet of paper under himself at the detective’s arrival, but Sherlock didn’t pay it much mind. “John? Would you be willing to join me this evening for supper at The Ledbury this evening, let’s say at eight o’clock?” He flashed John a small smile to tell him that he was being completely serious and this wasn’t some kind of social experiment. John asked dumb questions like that.

The older of the two drew in a sharp breath and nodded. Could he really propose to Sherlock in public? Would he have a panic attack or die of embarrassment first? Well, he supposed he would find out. Although, it would be kind of (really) embarrassing if he had a heart attack and died in public. He would never be able to live that one down with Sherlock. He looked up at the detective and realized he was waiting for an audible answer. God, how embarrassing. Perhaps he should just roll over dead right now. “Yes, I would love to.” He smiled back at Sherlock and went to his room, (barely used as anything but a guest room anymore, considering most nights he slept with Sherlock), to scheme more. He had to plan this to a tee.

Like Sherlock already had. This was proving to be plenty interesting to the outside eye.

The cab they took (for convenience, John!), pulled in front of the (surprisingly fancy) restaurant Sherlock had chosen at eight fifteen that evening. Sherlock got out first and then went around the other side to help John out. He offered a hand to the army doctor, who took it and walked out, only slightly astonished at the gesture. (Because that was weird and not something he would expect from the detective.) Sherlock gave Mycroft’s name at the door, (another oddity), and they were immediately seated. John whispered something to the waiter and slipped something in his pocket. Sherlock would have thought this was weird if he weren’t so god damn nervous.

A couple of minutes of chit chat later and the waiter brought back two glasses of wine. Sherlock nodded his appreciation before taking a sip. He noticed there was something in the glass other than wine a little too late and started choking. John’s eyes widened in shock, (because this was not how his perfect proposal plan was supposed to go,) and stood behind Sherlock, wrapping his arms around the detective’s abdomen. He pushed until Sherlock coughed up the foreign object he had chocked on. A small ring.

John was going to propose to him.

Sherlock looked up at John flabbergasted. This is not how he expected tonight to go. No, he was supposed to propose. Not choke on the ring. This was so embarrassing. How could John embarrass him like this? The walls felt like they were closing in and Sherlock had to leave. He dropped a debit card on the table and ran. John’s eyes grew wide and he stuffed the ring in his pocket before running after Sherlock.

The detective had run to the pier. It was ten at night, and the June air was awfully nippy. John watched Sherlock as he looked over the small bar that separated the general population and the lake. Sherlock was throwing bread crumbs at the birds. He seemed at ease, though still anxious. John stood next to him, careful not to startle the poor young detective. Sherlock still jumped, but John lightly grabbed his arm, “Please don’t run off.” He said simply.

Though every fiber of Sherlock’s being was telling him to run, he didn’t. John’s voice was a lot more soothing than the one inside his head. He let himself relax slightly at his boyfriend’s touch and nodded, “I am sorry for running off like that. It’s just that tonight didn’t go exactly as I imagined it to.” Sherlock said quietly. John let out a little noise of question and Sherlock elaborated, “I was going to propose to you.”

John laughed and Sherlock looked over at him in confusion, “Come on.” John said with a small smile, “You can’t tell me you don’t see the irony in that. We both decided to propose on the exact same day at the exact same time."

Sherlock laughed too, “Sounds like us,” He said softly. John nodded and leaned on Sherlock as the detective threw crumbs at the birds. And that’s how the two men stood for a while under John looked over at Sherlock.

“Hey.” John said and Sherlock looked over at him with confusion. “You know, this whole proposal thing is honestly kind of dumb. Nothing personal between us has ever gone by the books. So why can’t we just ask each other flat out without choking on a glass of wine?”

Sherlock shot him a genuine smile and nodded, “I agree.”

"Will you marry me?” Both men spat out at the same time. John laughed and pulled Sherlock into a hug. Sherlock kissed the top of his boyfriend’s head and nodded.

“I’ll be the first to reply. John Watson, I would love nothing more than to be your husband.”

John hummed happily. “Me too.”

“Perfect.”


End file.
